Ashley, William Henry (1778?-1838), an American fur trader and explorer, began fur trading in 1822. He established the more flexible system of meeting the trappers at different places each year, instead of using fixed trading posts. He explored the Green River south to Utah in 1825, and the next year went as far as the Great Salt Lake. Ashley served as a congressman from Missouri from 1831 to 1837. He was born in Powhatan County, Virginia.